In-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear

ABSTRACT

The present principles are directed to in-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear. A method includes monitoring statuses of various vehicle functions. The method further includes controlling the various vehicle functions to optimize the vehicle drive pattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of the monitoring step and known information at least about a road segment currently being or about to be traversed.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application is a Continuation application of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/161,173, filed on Jan. 22, 2014, which, in turnis a Divisional application of U.S. Pat. No. 8,676,442, filed on May 18,2012, incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present principles relate generally to vehicle infrastructure and,in particular, to in-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced roadwear.

Description of the Related Art

The maintenance of roads is expensive and disruptive to all road users.The majority of damage to roads is caused by only a small number of roadusers, that is, heavy vehicles such as buses, semi-trailers, B-doubles,and so forth. The damage caused by a vehicle is proportional to thefourth power of the load on each axle. Axle loads increase significantlywhen vehicles brake and accelerate due to load shifting (e.g., when avehicle brakes the load on the front axles increases).

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present principles, an in-vehicle drivepattern optimization method is provided. The method includes monitoringstatuses of various vehicle functions. The method further includescontrolling the various vehicle functions to optimize the vehicle drivepattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of the monitoringstep and known information at least about a road segment currently beingor about to be traversed.

According to another aspect of the present principles, an in-vehicledrive pattern optimizer is provided. The optimizer includes a vehiclestatus monitor for monitoring statuses of various vehicle functions. Theoptimizer also includes a vehicle drive pattern optimization controllerfor controlling the various vehicle functions to optimize the vehicledrive pattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of thevehicle status monitor and known information at least about a roadsegment currently being or about to be traversed.

According to yet another aspect of the present principles, an in-vehicledrive pattern optimization method is provided. The method includesmonitoring statuses of various vehicle functions. The method alsoincludes providing a user perceptible indication of a suggested vehicledriving pattern that reduces road wear responsive to an output of themonitoring step and known information about a road segment currentlybeing or about to be traversed.

According to still another aspect of the present principles, there isprovided an in-vehicle drive pattern optimizer. The optimizer includes avehicle status monitor for monitoring statuses of various vehiclefunctions. The optimizer also includes a suggested vehicle drivingpattern indicator for providing a user perceptible indication of asuggested vehicle driving pattern that reduces road wear responsive toan output of the vehicle status monitor and known information about aroad segment currently being or about to be traversed.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof,which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosure will provide details in the following description ofpreferred embodiments with reference to the following figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary processing system 100 towhich the present principles may be applied, in accordance with anembodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary system 200 for in-vehicledrive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, in accordance with anembodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing an exemplary method 300 for in-vehicledrive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, in accordance with anembodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing another exemplary method 400 forin-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing yet another exemplary method 500 forin-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 6 shows a plot 600 of vehicle acceleration versus time, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 7 shows a plot 700 of vehicle velocity versus time, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 8 shows a plot 800 of vehicle position versus time, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present principles;

FIG. 9 shows a plot 900 of cumulative wear versus time, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present principles; and

FIG. 10 shows a plot 1000 of cumulative wear versus position, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present principles are directed to in-vehicle drive patternoptimization for reduced road wear. In an embodiment, the presentprinciples provide a way to modify the drive pattern of vehicles suchthat the cost of maintaining a road (to within certain qualityconstraints) is minimized. This modification is achieved through anin-vehicle system which determines an optimal drive pattern and providesan output. This output is based on limited incoming and storedinformation that, depending on the embodiment of the present principles,may include but is not limited to: traffic conditions; road conditions;vehicle location; vehicle speed; vehicle acceleration; traffic signals;a model of vehicle dynamics; speed limits; driver input; routeinformation; area map; weather; and estimated accumulation of wear perroad segment. The output is an optimal drive pattern which specifies,for example, the use (timing and amplitude) of the accelerator and brakeand, thereby, the velocity. This information can be used either todirectly control the vehicle (e.g., through electronic actuators), todampen user initiated control over the vehicle, or to inform the driverso that he or she can make the necessary changes.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary processing system 100 to which the presentinvention may be applied, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. The processing system 100 includes at least oneprocessor (CPU) 102 operatively coupled to other components via a systembus 104. A read only memory (ROM) 106, a random access memory (RAM) 108,a display adapter 110, an I/O adapter 112, a user interface adapter 114,and a network adapter 198, are operatively coupled to the system bus104.

A display device 116 is operatively coupled to system bus 104 by displayadapter 110. A disk storage device (e.g., a magnetic or optical diskstorage device) 118 is operatively coupled to system bus 104 by I/Oadapter 112.

A mouse 120 and keyboard 122 are operatively coupled to system bus 104by user interface adapter 114. The mouse 120 and keyboard 122 are usedto input and output information to and from system 100.

A transceiver 196 is operatively coupled to system bus 104 by networkadapter 198. Of course, the processing system 100 may also include otherelements (not shown), as readily contemplated by one of skill in theart, as well as omit certain elements.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary system 200 for in-vehicledrive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, in accordance with anembodiment of the present principles. The system 200 includes a vehiclestatus monitor 210, a vehicle drive pattern optimization controller 220,a user override device 230, a vehicle driving pattern logging device240, a suggested vehicle driving pattern indicator 250, a transceiver260, and a data input port 270. The preceding elements of system 200 maybe interconnected, as well as being connected to corresponding elementsof a subject vehicle, using a bus 299.

The vehicle status monitor 200 is for monitoring the status of variousvehicle functions/parameters. For example, such vehiclefunctions/parameters may include, but are not limited to, braking,speed, acceleration, steering, and so forth.

The vehicle drive pattern optimization controller 220 is for controllingvarious vehicle functions to optimize the vehicle drive pattern,responsive to an output of the vehicle status monitoring. For example,such functions may include, but are not limited to, braking,acceleration, steering, and so forth.

The user override device 230 is for overriding the controlling ofvarious vehicle functions by the vehicle drive pattern optimizationcontroller 220. In this way, a user can always have and/or otherwiseregain control of the vehicle.

The vehicle driving pattern logging device 240 is for logging thedriving pattern of the user on the road. In this way, it can be laterdetermined whether or not a particular driver of a particular vehiclecomplied with suggested vehicle patterns for minimizing road wear asprovided by the system 200.

The suggested vehicle driving pattern indicator 250 is for providing auser perceptible indication of a suggested vehicle driving pattern. Suchindication may be provided visually, audibly, tactilely, and so forth.Accordingly, such suggested vehicle driving pattern indicator 250 may beimplemented in the form of one or more of a light, a display, one ormore speakers, a vibrating device, and so forth. For example, in thecase of a light, the light may be one of several lights, with each ofthe lights representing a different action to be taken by the vehicleoperator in order to minimize road wear. In the case of speakers, thespeakers may simply announce the action(s) to be taken. In the case of avibrating device, different vibration patterns and/or frequencies and/orso forth may be used to indicate the action(s) to be taken. These andother uses of such indicating elements are readily determined by one ofordinary skill in the art, given the teachings of the present principlesprovided herein.

The transceiver 260 and data input port 270 is for receiving road andambient information contemporaneously or preferably in advance ofdriving over such relevant road segments, in order to optimize thedriving pattern to minimize wear of such road segments. The transceiver260 may be used to receive such road information while the vehicle ismoving (or stationary of course), while the data input port 270 may beused, for example, at certain locations, such as a truck stop, a vehiclemaintenance facility, and so forth. The information capable of beingprovided by the transceiver 260 and data input port 270 includes, but isnot limited to, traffic conditions, road conditions, traffic signals,speed limits, route information, area map, weather, and so forth.

Following FIGS. 3-5 correspond to various embodiments of the presentprinciples. In particular, FIG. 3 is directed to an embodiment where thevehicle is automatically controlled in a manner to reduce road wear,FIG. 4 is directed to an embodiment, where a vehicle operator isprompted with actions to be taken by the vehicle operator (e.g., brakemoderately, accelerate moderately, etc.) to reduce road wear, and FIG. 5is a composite of the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4 where a vehicleoperator is prompted with actions to be taken and the vehicle is alsoautomatically controlled. In the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 5, a vehicleoperator override is provided to override the automatic control of thevehicle.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing an exemplary method 300 for in-vehicledrive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, in accordance with anembodiment of the present principles.

At step 310, a driving pattern of the vehicle is logged.

At step 320, statuses of various vehicle functions are monitored by thevehicle status monitor 210. The various vehicle functions can include,but are not limited to braking, acceleration, and/or steering. An outputof step 320 may include, for example, parameters of the variousmonitored vehicle functions.

At step 330, various vehicle functions are controlled by the vehicledrive pattern optimization controller 220 to optimize the vehicle drivepattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of the vehiclestatus monitor 210 and known information at least about a road segmentcurrently being or about to be traversed and ambient information withrespect to a location of the road segment. As used herein, “about to betraversed” means at some point in the future.

At step 340, a user override is provided by the user override device 230for overriding the controlling of various vehicle functions by thevehicle drive pattern optimization controller 220.

At step 350, a determination is made of whether a particular driver of aparticular vehicle is complying with suggested vehicle patterns forminimizing road wear. Such determination may be made, for example, usingthe logged driving pattern relating to step 310. The determination mayconsider whether the user override was invoked by the vehicle operator(at step 340).

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing another exemplary method 400 forin-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles.

At step 410, a driving pattern of the vehicle is logged.

At step 420, statuses of various vehicle functions are monitored by thevehicle status monitor 210. The various vehicle functions can include,but are not limited to braking, acceleration, and/or steering. An outputof step 420 may include, for example, parameters of the variousmonitored vehicle functions.

At step 430, a user perceptible indication of a suggested vehicledriving pattern is provided by the suggested vehicle driving patternindicator 250.

At step 440, a determination is made of whether a particular driver of aparticular vehicle is complying with suggested vehicle patterns forminimizing road wear. Such determination may be made, for example, usingthe logged driving pattern relating to step 410.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing yet another exemplary method 500 forin-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles.

At step 510, a driving pattern of the vehicle is logged.

At step 520, statuses of various vehicle functions are monitored by thevehicle status monitor 210. The various vehicle functions can include,but are not limited to braking, acceleration, and/or steering. An outputof step 520 may include, for example, parameters of the variousmonitored vehicle functions.

At step 530, a user perceptible indication of a suggested vehicledriving pattern is provided by the suggested vehicle driving patternindicator 250.

At step 540, various vehicle functions are controlled by the vehicledrive pattern optimization controller 220 to optimize the vehicle drivepattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of the vehiclestatus monitor 210 and known information at least about a road segmentcurrently being or about to be traversed and ambient information withrespect to a location of the road segment. Such control may be provided,for example, if the vehicle operator does not take the suggested actionat step 320. Alternatively, such control may be provided to supplementany vehicle operator action. For example, in an embodiment, a useraction may be determined as an attempt to follow a suggested vehicledriving pattern, but such action may be deemed to fall somewhat short inits' intended goal. In such a case, such user action can be supplementedby the vehicle drive pattern optimization controller 220. These andother variations in implementations of the present principles arereadily determined by one of ordinary skill in the art, given theteachings of the present principles provided herein, while maintainingthe spirit of the present principles.

At step 550, a user override is provided by the user override device 230for overriding the controlling of various vehicle functions by thevehicle drive pattern optimization controller 220.

At step 560, a determination is made of whether a particular driver of aparticular vehicle is complying with suggested vehicle patterns forminimizing road wear. Such determination may be made, for example, usingthe logged driving pattern relating to step 510. The determination mayconsider whether the user override was invoked by the vehicle operator(at step 550).

When a vehicle passes over a section of road the vehicle causes damageto the section. The extent of this damage is proportional to both thevelocity and acceleration of the vehicle. Changes in velocity result ingreater force being applied to the surface, and thereby greater damage.Presently the distribution of these forces is non-uniform and, as aresult, damage occurs non-uniformly. The time to repair (minor andmajor) is determined by the most damaged road portion of a road segment.Therefore, if we can more uniformly distribute these forces then we canincrease the time to repair.

For a given vehicle, our goal is to minimize its contribution to theshortening of the time to repair. To that end, we now describe theproblem formulation.

FIG. 6 shows a plot 600 of vehicle acceleration versus time, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles. Let usrepresent the vehicle acceleration profile as a fixed-width stepfunction as follows:a(t)Σ_(i=0) ^(M−1) a _(i) I _(A) _(i) (t)∀tε

,where M≧1, a_(i)ε

, A_(i) is the i-th interval, and I_(A)(•) is the indicator function ofA: I_(A) _(i) (t)=1 if tεA and 0 otherwise. The period of the stepfunction δ determines the intervals as follows:A _(i)=└δ(i−1)δi┘ for i=1, . . . ,M.

The variables in our optimization, the a_(i) 's, define theaforementioned acceleration profile. FIG. 7 shows a plot 700 of vehiclevelocity versus time, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentprinciples. FIG. 8 shows a plot 800 of vehicle position versus time, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles. The velocityprofile is the integral of the acceleration profile, and the positionprofile is the integral of the velocity profile as follows:v(t)=∫_(t) ₀ ^(t) a(t)·dt and x(t)=∫_(t) ₀ ^(t) v(t)·dt  (1)

Some of the constraints on our optimization problem change with thecontext. For example, the speed limit of a road places an upper bound onvelocity. If the vehicle is soon to enter a lower velocity road segment,then this will necessitate braking. Conversely, if a vehicle is soon toenter a higher velocity road segment, then acceleration is possible.Accordingly, at each point in time there is a constraint on the velocityas follows:v(t)≦V _(max)(x(t))  (2)where V_(max) denotes the maximum legal velocity for a segment.

Traffic signals also place constraints on the velocity. For example,stops signs require the vehicle to come to a complete stop at aspecified location, as do traffic lights.

The presence of other vehicles on the road introduces positionconstraints, which are a function of velocity and stopping distance asfollows:X _(min)(y(t))≦x(t)≦X _(max)(y(t)),where y(t) includes the position of all other vehicles, X_(max) denotesthe upper bound on the horizontal position, and X_(min) denotes thelower bound on the horizontal position.

The wear profile w_(i)(x) produced by the passage of vehicle i is afunction φ(•) of position, velocity and acceleration as follows:w _(i)(x)=φ(x(t),v(t),a(t))  (3)

FIG. 9 shows a plot 900 of cumulative wear versus time, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present principles. Let us also define W(x,t)to be the cumulative wear function, which varies with time and space.For simplicity, we can also define W_(i)(x) to be the cumulative weardistribution before the i-th vehicle passage. Therefore, we have thefollowing:W _(i+1)(x)=W _(i)(x)+w _(i)(x).  (4)

The problem formulation leads to two objectives: minimizing theaggregate wear increment; and minimizing the maximum wear for thesegment. The aggregate wear increment is as follows:∫w _(i)(x)·dx  (5)and the maximum wear is achieved through a constraint as follows:W _(max) ≧W _(i+1)(x)∀x.  (6)

These two objectives have non-equal importance, so we define a priorityfactor φ(•). The objective function is as follows:min z=W _(max) +p·∫w _(i)(x)·dx.  (7)

The appropriate solver for the above problem formulation dependsprimarily on φ(•). Candidate solvers include, but are not limited to,commercial linear programming (LP) and mixed integer programming (MIP)software, or some form of metaheuristic such as genetic algorithms (GA),particle swarm optimization (PSO), covariance matrix adaptationevolution strategy (CMA-ES) or simulated annealing.

FIG. 10 shows a plot 1000 of cumulative wear versus position, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present principles. In particular,FIG. 10 shows the cumulative wear on a road segment. The plot 1000 showstwo cumulative wear patterns, a top pattern 1010 and a bottom pattern1020. The top pattern 1010 indicates the incre-mental wear due to thepassage of a vehicle. A component of this wear is unavoidable, but thewear due to velocity changes can be mitigated through optimization asdisclosed herein. For example, we do not want additional wear to occurat the maximum (Max) point, we would prefer the additional wear to occurat the minimum (Min) point.

If the present principles are used to directly control the vehicle thenthere may need to be a manual override option for the driver for safetyreasons. This is analogous to “cruise control” systems which allow thedriver to override with the brake pedal. Such override option isprovided in step 340 of method 300 of FIG. 3, and step 550 of method 500of FIG. 5.

If the present principles are used to inform the driver of a maximizeddrive pattern, then it is important that the actual drive pattern islogged such that there is a degree of accountability. Such a loggingoption is provided in step 310 of method 300 of FIG. 3, step 410 ofmethod 400 of FIG. 4, and step 510 of method 500 of FIG. 5. Moreover, acompliance determination option with respect to such logging is providedin step 350 of method 300 of FIG. 3, step 440 of method 400 of FIG. 4,and step 560 of method 500 of FIG. 5.

In an embodiment which will now be described, we use a dynamic,non-linear transformation for the brake and accelerator sensitivity,thus increasing or decreasing dampening of the system to effect change.This preserves the full range of input options while enabling the moduleto encourage less damaging drive patterns. Such a system should notnoticeably impact the driver, nor should it affect emergency brakingbehavior.

In an embodiment, we presume that there is known data on the wearprofile of a given section of road and that there are known/calculatedpreferred wear segments. The high level process can be described byAlgorithm 1.

Algorithm 1 below is directed to the third embodiment, as follows:

Algorithm 1 Description of third embodiment The maximum modification isM as measured in seconds The maximum predicted wear for each segment Sis at position Z The minimum velocity change required to activate thesystem is V The velocity change considered to be an emergency action isQ if User action is initiated then if The initiated action is expectedto cause a change in velocity ≧ V and ≦ Q then  if The velocity changeis predicted to impact position Z then Calculate required change C toavoid impacting position Z if the time to execute C ≦ M then Perform theaction end if end if  end if end if

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” ofthe present principles, as well as other variations thereof, means thata particular feature, structure, characteristic, and so forth describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the present principles. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” or “in an embodiment”, as well any other variations,appearing in various places throughout the specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

It is to be appreciated that the use of any of the following “/”,“and/or”, and “at least one of”, for example, in the cases of “A/B”, “Aand/or B” and “at least one of A and B”, is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of both options (A andB). As a further example, in the cases of “A, B, and/or C” and “at leastone of A, B, and C”, such phrasing is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of the third listedoption (C) only, or the selection of the first and the second listedoptions (A and B) only, or the selection of the first and third listedoptions (A and C) only, or the selection of the second and third listedoptions (B and C) only, or the selection of all three options (A and Band C). This may be extended, as readily apparent by one of ordinaryskill in this and related arts, for as many items listed.

Having described preferred embodiments of a system and method (which areintended to be illustrative and not limiting), it is noted thatmodifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the artin light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood thatchanges may be made in the particular embodiments disclosed which arewithin the scope of the invention as outlined by the appended claims.Having thus described aspects of the invention, with the details andparticularity required by the patent laws, what is claimed and desiredprotected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method,comprising: monitoring, by a processor, statuses of various vehiclefunctions; and providing, by the processor, a user perceptibleindication of a suggested vehicle driving pattern that reduces road wearresponsive to an output of the monitoring step and known informationabout a road segment currently being or about to be traversed, whereinthe user perceptible indication of the suggested vehicle driving patternis provided tactilely to a user in a form of vibration energy using avibrating device, and wherein the suggested vehicle driving patternprovided tactilely to the user relates to vehicle functions includingbraking, acceleration, and steering.
 2. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimization method of claim 1, further comprising logging a drivingpattern of a user on the road.
 3. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimization method of claim 1, wherein the user perceptible indicationof the suggested vehicle driving pattern is further provided at leastone of visually and audibly.
 4. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimization method of claim 1, wherein the known information furthercomprises ambient information with respect to a location of the currentroad segment.
 5. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method ofclaim 4, wherein the ambient information comprises traffic conditions,road conditions, traffic signals, speed limits, route information, areamap, and weather.
 6. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method ofclaim 1, wherein the vehicle drive pattern is optimized for reduced roadwear based on minimizing an aggregate wear increment and minimizing amaximum wear for the road segment.
 7. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimization method of claim 1, wherein the vibrating device usesdifferent vibration patterns to indicate one or more vehicle drivingactions to be taken by the user.
 8. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimization method of claim 1, wherein the vibrating device usesdifferent vibration frequencies to indicate one or more vehicle drivingactions to be taken by the user.
 9. An in-vehicle drive patternoptimizer, comprising: a processor for monitoring statuses of variousvehicle functions and providing a user perceptible indication of asuggested vehicle driving pattern that reduces road wear responsive toan output of the monitoring and known information about a road segmentcurrently being or about to be traversed, wherein the user perceptibleindication of the suggested vehicle driving pattern is providedtactilely to a user in a form of vibration energy using a vibratingdevice, and wherein the suggested vehicle driving pattern providedtactilely to the user relates to vehicle functions including braking,acceleration, and steering.
 10. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimizerof claim 9, further comprising a vehicle driving pattern logging devicefor logging a driving pattern of a user on the road.
 11. The in-vehicledrive pattern optimizer of claim 9, further comprising at least one of atransceiver and data input port for receiving the known information atleast about the current road segment.
 12. The in-vehicle drive patternoptimizer of claim 9, wherein the known information further comprisesambient information with respect to a location of the current roadsegment.
 13. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimizer of claim 12, whereinthe ambient information comprises traffic conditions, road conditions,traffic signals, speed limits, route information, area map, and weather.14. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimizer of claim 9, wherein thevehicle drive pattern is optimized for reduced road wear based onminimizing an aggregate wear increment and minimizing a maximum wear forthe road segment.
 15. An in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method,comprising: providing, by a processor for a road segment currently beingor about to be traversed, a user perceptible indication of a suggestedvehicle driving pattern optimized for reduced road wear based onminimizing an aggregate wear increment and minimizing a maximum wear forthe road segment, wherein the user perceptible indication of thesuggested vehicle driving pattern is provided tactilely to a user in aform of vibration energy using a vibrating device, and wherein thesuggested vehicle driving pattern provided tactilely to the user relatesto vehicle functions including braking, acceleration, and steering. 16.The in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method of claim 15, furthercomprising logging a driving pattern of a user on the road.
 17. Thein-vehicle drive pattern optimization method of claim 15, wherein theuser perceptible indication of the suggested vehicle driving pattern isfurther provided at least one of visually and audibly.
 18. Thein-vehicle drive pattern optimization method of claim 15, wherein theuser perceptible indication is provided based on known information aboutthe road segment.
 19. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimization methodof claim 18, wherein the known information about the road segmentcomprises ambient information with respect to a location of the currentroad segment.
 20. The in-vehicle drive pattern optimization method ofclaim 19, wherein the ambient information comprises traffic conditions,road conditions, traffic signals, speed limits, route information, areamap, and weather.